SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Animal lovers and Syracuse city officials will meet today to look for solutions to a grim reality: Some 573 city dogs were put to death last year after being picked up by animal control officers.

Common Councilor Bob Dougherty will chair a committee meeting at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall to hear public concerns about the number of stray, neglected or abandoned dogs that are picked up and put to death. Dougherty’s committee oversees the parks department, which includes animal control.

The city recently renewed a contract with DeWitt Animal Hospital to accept dogs picked up by city animal control, a decision that upset some animal lovers because the hospital is not a “no kill’’ facility, Dougherty said. After holding an unlicensed dog for at least five days, or a licensed dog at least 10 days, the hospital may euthanize it.

But DeWitt Animal Hospital was the only facility to bid on the city contract, Dougherty said. Because of the volume of dogs picked up each year -- more than 900 -- the no-kill animal shelters could not afford to provide the service, Dougherty said.

Linda Young, president of the Animal Alliance of Greater Syracuse, a group formed to look for humane solutions to homeless pets, agreed that it probably would be impossible to send all the dogs to a no-kill facility.

“There really aren’t too many options,’’ she said. Young said the city should focus on encouraging people to license their dogs and crack down on abusive owners or unethical backyard breeders. Those efforts and others could reduce the number of abused and unwanted dogs, she said.

Shane Chimber, the city’s dog control supervisor, said DeWitt Animal Hospital often goes out of its way to keep dogs alive in hopes of getting them adopted. “They’re holding some of these dogs, if they even have a chance to get adopted -- on their own dime -- for six months,’’ he said. “We don’t pay for that.’’

But many of the dogs are tough to find homes for, Chimber said. Last year, 146 of the 910 dogs picked up -- 16 percent -- were adopted. Another 142 dogs were reclaimed by their owners. The majority -- 573, or 63 percent -- were put to death.

Chimber said three out of four of the dogs put to death were pit bulls or pit bull mixes. Many have scars, abscesses or other wounds that indicate they were mistreated or used for fighting, he said.
Contact Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 315-470-3023.